Student preferences: Goal-setting and self-assessment activities in a tertiary education environment

Abstract

This article reports the results of student preferences with respect to intervention studies integrated into college level Japanese language courses in two consecutive years. The initial study was entitled `Goal List Project'; the subsequent amended study was entitled `Self-Assessment Project'. The former project required the students to set individual goals and to commit to the goals in a written document. On the basis of the analysis of the students' responses, the second study excluded the written goal list requirement. Both projects contained common elements of student reflection, self-assessment, documentation of problems/comments and written instructor feedback. Questionnaires (n = 225) were used to investigate the projects from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. More students recognized the intervention processes used in the Self-Assessment Project as being helpful compared to those used in the Goal List Project. This is indicative of a learner preference for intervention activity dealing with performance self-assessment as opposed to activities that included goal-setting procedures.